Our 5★ Review

Reviewed by Emma-Louise Lewis on behalf of KFF

What a journey Ravenous was. My emotions were all over the map. There were points where I was so frustrated; I almost threw my kindle across the room. All the biggest issues in this book would have been solved if the characters talked to one another. But I guess just like real life, we all suffer this problem. This is what makes these characters so real. The author fleshed out her characters to the point that to me, in places it was as if I were an unwanted voyeur. The heartache and pain in Ravenous made my mind race and my heart bleed.

Raven, Brecken and Porter, all broken people in one way or another and each is struggling through life, surviving, but not really living.

Raven is an independent 21 year old. In college and working to support her little sister Chrissy, when one day her best friend Emma tells her she has started a new job as an Escort. Seeing how much money she could earn, Raven signs up and this is how she meets the identical twins Porter and Brecken; but more importantly where the story becomes intense and riveting.

“Never in my life had I felt an electric current just seeing a woman until her, and I couldn’t show that to her”

“For the first time, I wondered what it would be like to pay someone for a night of their time. Because I wanted to have her”.

Ravenous is the type of book that leaves you torn; Indecisive about where you want Raven to go and which brother to end up with.

“My throat dried out and my heart thumped in my chest, ‘I know the feeling. I was thinking of you…and your brother…just moments before you appeared behind me.’ I didn’t know how to respond to him, so I chose to stay quiet.”

As the story progresses more and more is thrown at Raven both in her personal and her love life, it becomes very apparent that she is truly torn between which brother to choose.

“You’ll remember that you can’t want both of them. You need to want neither of them”.

“I just know I’m not good enough for you”.

Raven sees herself as a girl from the wrong side of the tracks and that she isn’t worthy of being coveted and treasured by a “real, true and decent man”.

It broke my heart that she truly just saw herself as the daughter of a drug addict who deserved no more than she had and that men like Porter and Brecken could never really love her for her, if they knew the cold harsh truth of her upbringing, and how she had had to fight tooth and nail to get where she was.

“Her eyes widened, and she worked her lip with her teeth again. ‘I’m not a forever kind of girl.’ It was like someone had sucker-punched me in the gut at her soft words. This woman thought little to nothing of herself.”

“How do you read my mind?

Don’t you see yet? I see you, Raven”.

Raven is driven by the need to protect her little sister, to give her the kind of life she never had at her age. Fed. Safe. Loved. All the things any child shouldn’t have to ask for; the basics ANY parent should tear themselves up to provide.

The emotions in Ravenous were palpable; the lows were so low at times I almost forgot to breathe. Toing and throwing back and forth until the very end.

“Because the heart doesn’t have a timeline. Is there supposed to be some sort of schedule to falling in love? I don’t think so. Some people wait a lifetime to find this, and others feel it the first time they meet the person that’s meant for them.”

“For a girl who was never shown love by the people that were supposed to model the selfless emotion, Raven just offered me her entire heart without abandon”.

I knew where my heart wanted Raven to end up. And, with any really good book, you just are never sure until at least the last 10% or so, how it will all unfold. I’m super impressed with how the author dealt with some of the taboo topics in Ravenous. I have never read this author before this, but I’ll certainly be making sure from now on to watch for any future releases. Which leads me to point out; there will be a sequel to Ravenous…Insatiable is coming out this summer and is about the other Kingsley twin…I cannot wait to watch that one unfold. I have no doubt it’ll be another equally scintillating and satisfying train wreck!

L.L. Collins loves spending her days in the Florida sun with her husband and two boys. LL has been writing since she was old enough to write. Always a story in her head, she finally decided to let the characters out made her lifelong dream of becoming an author come true in the self-publishing world. She’s the author of the Living Again Series, the Twisted Series, Back to the Drawing Board, and the Jaded Regret Series. Visit LL on her website, www.llcollinsauthor.com and on all social media. Look for more of her emotionally charged novels soon!